The Santa Rosa City Council postponed a decision Tuesday on whether to grant North Bay Corporation a 10-year extension on its garbage-hauling contract in exchange for millions of dollars in extra cash.
At the end of the five-hour hearing that featured a parade of 40 speakers, council members agreed to send several issues they wanted clarified to the council's Solid Waste Committee before the agreement returns for a final vote.
Council members Gary Wysocky, Jane Bender and Marsha Vas Dupre make up the committee.
Wysocky said he wanted further clarification on the agreement's impact on residential rates, diversion rate penalties, food waste recycling and whether North Bay can sell its contract to another company without city oversight.
Depending on the answers, Wysocky said he would be among a council majority willing to approve the extension. The agreement would generate an extra $1.8 million in annual revenue concessions from North Bay, or more than $23 million for the city over the life of the extension and the three years that remain on the current contract.
The one major stumbling block, however, came when Mayor Susan Gorin said she would prefer to see North Bay granted only a five-year extension beyond the current contract's expiration date at the end of 2012 - a reduction that some council members worried could prove to be a deal breaker.
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